Acceptance of US-degrees in Canada

Wow! This is an old thread!

 

Yes, I have used my Canadian degress to teach at the University level in the US. Some schools require you to provide them with a foreign equivalency report from a NACES recognized institution like WES.

I have seen people been hired with degrees from India, Russia and other countries for teaching positions in the US.

In some fields like IT, you hardly see any American born teaching at the University level. It is common to see in some IT teaching jobs a requirement like "must know how to speak English".

 

Canada is a place where almost degree from every Nation is accepted be it distance learning and online degrees

 

Not really, no. Bit this is the party line.

 

WES and other foreign credentials evaluators issue reports that don't have to be accepted by employers.
In theory, If I finish my MBA from an obscure government school in Africa, WES and other similar agencies would issue an equivalency report to a Canadian or US MBA. However, employers won't recognize the degrees as being equivalent. Credibility plays a big factor, credentials from Western Euopean, Canada, US and Australia are normally accepted as equivalent but most employers are very skeptical of credentials earned in other countries with the exeption of some well known places like the Indian Institute of Technology.

In summary, not because is accredited in Timbuktu, it means that will be accepted by Canadian or American employers.

 

As far as research is concerned, Canada doesn't hold a candle to the United States (or the United Kingdom for that matter). According to the times higher education world rankings:

1 California Institute of Technology United States
94.8
2 Harvard University United States
93.9
2 Stanford University United States
93.9
4 University of Oxford United Kingdom
93.6
5 Princeton University United States
92.9
6 University of Cambridge United Kingdom
92.4
7 Massachusetts Institute of Technology United States
92.3
8 Imperial College London United Kingdom
90.7
9 University of Chicago United States
90.2
10 University of California, Berkeley United States
89.8
11 Yale University United States
89.1
12 Columbia University United States
87.5
13 University of California, Los Angeles United States
87.3
14 Johns Hopkins University United States
85.8
15 ETH Zürich - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich Switzerland
85
16 University of Pennsylvania United States
84.9
17 University College London United Kingdom
83.2
18 University of Michigan United States
82.8
19 University of Toronto Canada
81.6
20 Cornell University United States
80.5

Canada has one university in the top 20. You'll find this is generally the case when looking at most world rankings of universities. There's a reason Canadians flock to the states to attend schools such as Harvard, Yale, Princeton, University of Chicago and so on.

 

Well yes, this is true everywhere. What is uniquely Canadian is these myths of superiority. We see right in this thread that "Canada is a place where almost degree from every Nation is accepted" yet at the same time "quality of Canadian universities is SO much more uniform than in USA". In fact, the problem of foreign credential recognition is notorious in Canada - just search for the newspaper articles. I don't need to even read it in newspapers - everyone around me have this problem. Plus, there is the soft anti-Americanism. My friend was told that "American curriculum is just not rigorous enough" by U. of Toronto grad admission person. Friend's credential? MA from University of Chicago. My wife, a CPA (her accounting degree is from Excelsior) was told she's "not even qualified to do data entry" (by a recruiter) and "CPAs are given avay like candy in USA" (by a receptionist with liberal-arts RA as a highest credential). Two friends with credentials from Russia look for a job for years, with no result.

 

An American CPA can be used to become a CA, CGA or CMA in Canada. If your wife has no license in the US but only a CPA certificate, she can use it for advanced standing with CGA or CMA.
CPA will give you at least level 4 with CGA, this is enough for an entry level position in accounting in Canada.
Don't listen to recruiters, many are idiots with little knowledge of the Canadian system.

By the way, many people in Canada do the CPA instead of CGA or CMA as it is cheaper to maintain and many companies hire you with a CPA.

The issue is not so much that foreign degrees are not recognized in Canada but more than degrees in general are not recognized much in an economy that needs tons of cheap labour and there is little demand for knowledge workers due to an overeducated population.

 

I am not sure about Canada, but I find that people who are "down the tree" in bureaucracy are highly critical of any degree that is not given by a university within fifty miles of their residence. Often their arrogance is only surpassed by their ignorance and their prejudice. You have to navigate around this level and get to the real decisionmakers.

 

Yes it can. There are some cute nuances in the CA reciprocity process, but we navigated it, eventually. Thanks though.

I don't know who hire anyone in here (IT is somewhat easier, but still - a lot of luck involved), but you're right about "cheaper" part. And how!

Well yeah, this. I can appreciate the economy thing. But this is not what a Canadian will tell you. No, this is a country of boundless opportunity, you just need to TRY HARDER. Plus, no one addresses the discrimination part, because the party line is that Canadians are not capable of discrimination, unlike those barbarians down south.
I'm not trying to knock down Canada. It's a nice country with superior immigration scheme (but I have a feeling Concervatives are slowly addressing this) and better (as in, less awful) healthcare system. Just commenting on some attitudes.

 

Sure. And this brings us to concepts of "hidden market" and "networking" (or, how the rest of the world calls it, cronyism).

 

I have lived in Canada for 60 years. Yes - the party line is exactly as you say. And yes, reality is exactly the opposite. Many newcomers succeed..and quite a few don't, many through no fault of their own. Some, unfortunately, learn to "live off the system" and that tends to sway attitudes about the many others who don't. Most discrimination comes from two areas:

(1) The low-end crowd who are jealous of others with more education, talent or work ethic - particularly if they are visibly or audibly "different" and
(2) Self-protective professional organizations that want to keep all jobs for the home crowd.

One ray of hope: a government job of any kind - lawyer, IT worker, janitor - it doesn't matter. No barriers. The government practises and preaches non-discrimination. Rise as high as your talent and diligence will take you. In fact, plenty (born here or not) have risen very high in Canadian government circles without much in the way of hard work or talent...

Johann

 

This "open" culture of promoting the mediocre and sometimes plain incompetent has created the ineffectual monster which is the Canadian civil service today. This applies to government workers as a whole, not just home-grown Canadians or naturalised immigrants. The poisonous atmosphere of rewarding failure was too much for me to handle when I worked for the Canadian government.

The number of Canadians attending famous private institutions south of the border is undoubtedly substantial but I certainly wouldn't describe it as anything close to "flocking", especially in this economy.

 

Thanks for validation, Johann! Yes, many succeed, eventually, often through finally acquiring some networking connections and/or dumb luck.

Oh I have no doubt they PREACH it. I don't think plush union jobs like in government have "no barriers"; not sure it's even possible. These rely even more on connections, and government employers devise objective-looking "exams" that seem to measure "Canadian-ness" more than anything else.

 

Stanislav - I still actually believe they PRACTISE IT. At least in my province, you'll find senior bureaucrats, Parliamentarians and yes - Cabinet ministers who immigrated from all over - Africa, South Asia, etc. Yes - you'll find this in the Federal work-force too. Go into a government office - you'll see what I mean. It looks more pervasive (to me) than a trick for public perception.

Perhaps as large a proportion of the immigrant employees have availed themselves of "right time & place," as have their born-here "homies." Networking? Sure. WHO you know is always important. If well-educated cousin Farhan or Sharifa got hired to a position of influence in the Attorney General's office - then why wouldn't a relative apply?

I still say - going "Government" is a good gig if you can get it. Secure, well-paid, less discrimination than in many areas. Then too, many enterprising immigrants do well as self-employed entrepreneurs - but if you can't work for yourself, you can still work for the Government! - At least in Canada.

Johann

 

I have to concede that maybe, just maybe, you were right after all. I'm starting working at a federal Government position later this month. Took me two attempts for the same job, with 4 year interval :O. I guess I got more "Canadian" in the interim . Can't really be sure if it was my newly-acquired citizenship that did it for me - I feel like I did perform better at the interview this time, too.